The backdrop of Cardiff Castle’s iconic summer concert series remained the same, but the atmosphere was anything but ordinary. Before Rebecca Lucy Taylor, better known as Self Esteem, took command of the stage. The Cardiff crowd were treated with to two captivating support sets, Joshua Idehen and Kae Tempest, unravelling the evening to be one of raw emotional honesty and powerful performances.
When Self Esteem emerged, it didn’t take long for the Castle to become entirely hers. With towering confidence and razor-sharp charisma, Taylor transformed the historic venue into something far more intimate.
Self Esteem doesn’t just perform her songs, she lands every lyric with conviction, every movement deliberate, with routines that demand your attention. Songs such as Logic, Bitch! had an essence of theatricality and group therapy rolled into one, as though everyone within those walls was undergoing a collective healing process.
But one of the night’s most memorable moments came when Taylor introduced her dancers, a tight, disciplined trio whose synchronicity is as much a part of the Self Esteem experience as the music itself. With perfect comic timing, she gestured to one of them and called him “the token male,” a throwaway line that sent a ripple of laughter across the crowd. It was classic Self Esteem: selfaware, playful, and unafraid to mixintensity with humour.
Their choreography throughout the set had a brilliant, tongueincheek energy: sharp, and almost reminiscent of a Jane Fonda workout.
The production was as bold as the music itself; stark lighting, punchy silhouettes, and moments of stillness that felt as carefully choreographed as the dance routines.
Yet one of Self Esteem’s greatest strengths is her ability to balance two opposing moments at once. In The Curse she’s delivering brutally honest lyrics about insecurity and doubt; minutes later she’s launching into 69, urging fans to scream and dance to lyrics about sex positions. It’s this tension, vulnerability colliding with empowerment, that reveals her authenticity and guts as a performer.
And just when the night seemed to have reached its emotional peak, Self Esteem steered it somewhere entirely different. As the final notes rang out, she encouraged the crowd to form a conga line; a joyful, chaotic procession that snaked its way out of the castle grounds. Hundreds of people, stranger’smoments before, linked together and danced their way into the Cardiff night. It was silly, communal, and completely liberating, the perfect closing gesture from an artist who understands that catharsis can be found in both confession and collective joy.
